The present invention relates to apparatus for removing flexible covers from bales. The invention is particularly useful for removing flexible covers (e.g., of plastic, jute, cotton, etc.) from cotton bales, and is therefore described below with respect to this application.
The flexible plastic covers commonly applied to cotton bales are generally removed manually at the present time, by manually slitting the covers and stripping them from the cotton bales. However, this is an extremely arduous and strenuous task because of the size and weight of such cotton bales. U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,596 discloses one type of automated apparatus particularly useful for removing flexible covers of baled soil material and the like such as are used in potted plants.